Seventh Day of Christmas

Here’s a brief blog series on each of the 12 days of Christmas, with Christian meanings.

 

On the seventh day of Christmas, my True Love [God] gave to me:

Seven swans a-swimming

Seven Spirit Gifts

 

Romans 12:6-8:

“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:

1)     if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

2)     or ministry, let us use it in our ministering;

3)     he who teaches, in teaching;

4)     he who exhorts, in exhortation;

5)     he who gives, with liberality;

6)     he who leads, with diligence;

7)     he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

 

While not an exhaustive list, Paul conveys here the diversity of abilities in the body of Christ, that each need to work together for the body to function as one and be effective.

 

There may be some overlap with natural abilities here, but the context of Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 makes clear that God intentionally by His Spirit gives us specific gifts and graces.

 

The practical point is to use them.  Do what you’re good at!

Those who have studied the biblical shepherd’s lifestyle tell me that shepherd threw rocks a lot.  Israel is a very rocky land, and sheep are easily frightened.  So an easy way to move sheep was to throw a rock to a place you want them to move away from.  They were precision rock throwers, often with a sling.  So when David stands before Goliath, he uses the gift he’s been given, instead of going with the world’s usual method (Saul’s armor).

 

What gifts has God given you?  How will you use them in 2021?

Sixth Day of Christmas

Here’s a brief blog series on each of the 12 days of Christmas, with Christian meanings.

 

On the sixth day of Christmas, my True Love [God] gave to me:

Six geese a-laying

Six Creation Days

 

It’s in vogue today to see the creation week as poetry, not history.  And utterly unscientific.  How could there be light before there was a sun!  Ridiculous.  Only to the naturalistic mind that cannot accept a God with power greater than forces of nature.

 

The Bible actually tells us to rest one day every seven, because that’s what God did.  Our 7-day week comes from Genesis 1, and we ought to follow it.  “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.  In it you shall do no work…” (Deut. 5:13-14).

 

This isn’t to say there is NO poetry to the creation account.  There certainly is.  The first 3 days, God creates a three-story world on three canvases, or spaces: sky, sea, land.  The next 3 days He fills each of them. 

 

At the end, instead of saying “Let there be,” He says “Let Us make man in Our image.”  Humans are uniquely God-like in the world, and called to rule the world faithfully in His stead (Gen. 1:28).  This view has been under assault the last few decades with the environmentalist movement, which sees man more as a violator of nature, and just one part of it.  Who’s to say a human life is worth more than a whale or a deer?  God says it here at the very beginning.

 

This is not a license to trash the planet.  Just the opposite – we are to care for it.  But the earth is a tool God gives for us to use wisely.  We may not abuse it, but we must use it.  It’s a tool in the workshop, not mom’s best china that we may never touch.

Fifth Day of Christmas

Here’s a brief blog series on each of the 12 days of Christmas, with Christian meanings.

 

On the fifth day of Christmas, my True Love [God] gave to me:

Five gold-en riiiiings!

Five Books of the Law

 

The Jews have an annual feast to celebrate God’s giving of the Law: Shavuot.  It remembers Moses coming down Sinai with the two tablets of the Ten Commandments.

 

Christians tend not to celebrate the law as they should.  We have largely lost the Psalmist’s heart cry, “Oh, how I love your law!  It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97).

 

It can be helpful to read the Ten Commandments as God’s wedding vows, as He takes Israel as His bride.  “I have done this for you; you be faithful to Me in these ways.”

1 – no other husbands/gods

2 – no pictures, either, to run after them

3 – take My name and wear it well

4 – spend time with Me

5 – honor your ancestors and authorities

6 – no physical harm

7 – obvious

Etc

 

All those obscure Levitical laws were specific things God gave us to do to show that we are set apart as His bride, and no one else’s.

 

So cherish all of the Bible in 2021, as coming from the God who loves you.

God's Rebuke of Woke-ness

 This verse is an apt description of what our cultural elites are doing in their revolution of woke-ness.



Ezekiel 13:22
"You have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life."

Fourth Day of Christmas

 Here’s a brief blog series on each of the 12 days of Christmas, with Christian meanings.

 

On the fourth day of Christmas, my True Love [God] gave to me:

Four calling birds

Four Gospel Books

 

Just as there are two creation accounts in Genesis 1-2 (the second starts at 2:4), so God gave us four accounts of Christ’s earthly ministry.

 

Matthew gives us Christ as King, fulfilling the Scriptures

Mark gives us an active Christ, in Peter’s blunt style

Luke gives us a Christ for the whole world, from a Gentile doctor’s view

John gives us Christ as eternal Word, who is our bread, shepherd, way, truth and life

 

Fools seek contradictions among these to debunk Jesus, while the wise know that multiple portraits are needed to round out any one author’s portrayal of any life, much less the most unique life (the only God-man ever) in history.

Third Day of Christmas

 Here’s a brief blog series on each of the 12 days of Christmas, with Christian meanings.

 

On the third day of Christmas, my True Love [God] gave to me:

Three French hens

Faith, Hope and Love

 

“So now faith, hope and love abide, these three” – 1 Corinthians 13:13.

The capstone of Paul’s great “Love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13, the context is really interesting.  The Corinthians put too much importance on knowledge, abilities/gifts, powerful speakers and their reputations.  Paul points out there are far more important things.  The mark of a spiritual person isn’t impressing others with speaking in tongues, how many books you’ve read, how impressively you can preach.  Sensationalism and spirituality don’t go together well.

 

Simple trust in God with your life, hoping in His work in the future (including 2021!), and love of God and neighbor, sum up the essence of the Christian life.

 

FAITH

People put stock in faith, in itself.  Faith in faith.  It’s nice to be people of faith.  But in WHAT?  “Whoever believes IN HIM [Jesus] should not perish…” (John 3:16).

 

HOPE

People right now seem to have a “fingers-crossed” attitude toward 2021.  This is not biblical hope.  “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:19).  Biblical hope KNOWS God will arrange everything in His world for the good of His people (Romans 8:28), regardless how much or little disruption that may bring to our lives.

 

LOVE

People tend to see love as good feelings or a close connection toward others.

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10-11).  Love gives drastically of itself for the good of others.

Second Day of Christmas

Here’s a brief blog series on each of the 12 days of Christmas, with the Christian meanings I listed previously.  I can’t discern any connection between the traditional gifts and the Christian meaning, so I’m ignoring that.

 

On the second day of Christmas, my True Love [God] gave to me:

Two turtledoves

Two testaments

 

God has revealed Himself in His Word, and we divide that into Old and New testaments.

“The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.”

It has become politically correct to only refer to the Old Testament as the Hebrew Bible, out of sensitivity to Judaism, to not call their Scriptures “Old.”  But this is a mistake.  The Old Testament is Act One and Two of God’s grand play: Creation and Fall.  It does NOT stand on its own, but calls for more.  The New Testament gives us Acts Three and Four: Redemption and Completion.  I’d encourage you to read some from each testament every day of 2021.  I’m using this plan.

Sayanora 2020! Where is Jesus in Christmastide?!

 A pastor works when others rest.  This happens every week on Sundays.  And it can be more acute around holidays.

 

This year I found myself going in to my office to get ready for Sunday worship the morning after Christmas.  The maintenance man was there, taking down all the Christmas decorations.  So I found myself besides preparing an extra service this week, writing this!

 

Throwing out the tree and garland on December 26 is probably normal for many people.  It’s even a holiday of its own – Boxing Day – for some.

 

But it troubles me.  And in 2020 it indicates a deeper problem.

 

This year, it seems people want 2020 to be over, more than they want to observe holidays.

It’s a spiritual problem.  We are like the Stoic fatalist who breaks his leg and says, “Well, glad that’s over.”  Hm.  NOT a Christian view of life or God’s providence.

 

In an outstanding article today on the Christian meaning of Christmas, James Wilson notes that our feelings should be disciplined by healthy outside forces that align us with reality and truth.  One of those forces is the church’s tradition of a liturgical calendar, Wilson notes (in the Wall Street Journal!).

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/finding-the-sacred-in-the-delights-of-christmas-11608836231

 

I would go further and say that in the church’s calendar, Christmas BEGINS on December 25, it does not end then.  The twelve days of Christmas is not just a song, but a steady, festive march to January 6.  That is the holiday (holy day) of Epiphany, when we celebrate the magi coming to worship Jesus, when we recall the light of the world coming to Gentiles and the whole world, not just to Israel.

 

When we call out “Happy Holidays!” today it is often a substitute for the too-narrow “Merry Christmas.”  But Happy Holidays for the thoughtful Christian can pull together Advent, Christmas and Epiphany all in one, and keep our observance balanced, and more helpful than the world’s.

 

The world’s rhythm is very different.

Store decorations come out right after Halloween. 

The hustle and bustle builds to a climax around December 23-24.

Then all goes quiet for time with family December 24-25.

The next day the decorations come down.

The next Monday we go back to work, or away on vacation, and think about a New Year.

 

In 2020, this is even more pronounced.

There has been much talk since Thanksgiving about wanting 2020 OVER, and little talk of holidays, beyond how to [not] gather.  The hopes and fears of 2020 are on a stupid calendar square and a number: 2021.  Or our hopes and fears are on January 5 (Georgia elections) or 6 (House vote on the electoral college) or 20 (Biden’s inauguration), depending on your politics.

 

But on Christmas Eve, we sang together as a church congregation, a truth that exposes and rejects those hopes as false or fleeting:

 

“The hopes and fears of ALL THE YEARS are met in thee [in Bethlehem, in Jesus] tonight.”

 

 

How can we live out this truth?  Here are a few ideas.

 

1. Don’t make new year’s eve such a big deal this year.

Resist the urge to celebrate with the world a calendar turn, as if that has any affect at all on events.  “If we just turn the page to 2021, Covid will go away!”  What kind of weird superstition is that?  God’s providence rules the world, not a Julian calendar.  Not a change in the American presidency, not the rollout of a vaccine.  But this year we’re leaning on a new year to give us hope, more than we are on the reality of Christmas.  And this is not just a 2020 phenomenon, but part of the overall growing secularizing of our American culture.  Resist it.  Christians don’t lean on the same things the rest of the world does.

 

 

2. Keep giving gifts.

I’ve reserved a few gifts to give to my family throughout the 12 days of Christmas, leading up to Epiphany.  The world sees this as a faux pas - as if you forgot their birthday.  But that’s the wrong way to look at it.  Jesus is truly the “gift that keeps on giving.”  Forever!  Why not observe His Incarnation, not only in the act of giving gifts at all, but in the WAY we give them?  God gave Jesus on Christmas, but He kept giving in Christ’s earthly life of 30 years, and obedient ministry of 3 years, climaxing in His gift on the cross.  And then God kept giving!  The resurrection.  Pentecost, when the gift spread to the nations.  The ministry of Paul of Tarsus, when the gift spread to the Gentiles, and the world, even to the Roman emperor.  Keep giving to your loved ones, in the same spirit.

 

 

3. Find ways to remember God’s gifts to you.

We tend to use our extra time from December 25 until work restarts to enjoy the gifts we received.  What if we also keep remembering God’s gifts to us?

 

Here’s one way my family has done that.

The song “The 12 days of Christmas” may have started as a code song for persecuted Christians to sing of God’s love to His people.  Even if not, my family has profited from singing this adapted version throughout the 12 days of Christmas.  It mostly fits the meter of the song, so you can sing it.  This is the same pattern as the Jesse Tree of Advent, remembering each day a particular part of God’s redemptive history leading up to Christ.

 

On the x day of Christmas, my True Love [God, Jesus] gave to me:

Jesus Christ our Savior, baby

Two Testaments [Old and New, the Bible]

Faith, Hope and Love

Four Gospel Books

Five Books of the Law

Six Creation Days

Seven Spirit Gifts

Eight Beatitudes

Nine Spirit Fruits

Ten Good Commandments

Eleven Faithful Apostles

Twelve Tribes of Israel

 

And the focus on Israel on Twelfth Night, January 5, can lead naturally into the Epiphany celebration of God’s revelation to the Gentiles, too.

 

 

4. Pray as you consume news – hope in the Lord for good!

To have your hopes and fears of all your years meet in Jesus today, takes work.

It seems to me that the news, from every political bias, has become more aggressive in pressuring its viewers what to trust in, as a result of the bad news they report.  And it's never Jesus.  Science, Trump, not-Trump, a dual electoral college vote, etc.  This all reinforces their audience’s counterfeit “HOPES AND FEARS” thus bringing them back for more viewing and ratings.  (Tim Keller's "Counterfeit Gods" is good on this.)  My newspaper this morning told me that their Digital Word of the Year is “Doomscrolling:” being obsessed with taking in bad news, such that you can’t stop scrolling.  Don’t get sucked into this.  As the media casts cares on you, cast them on the Lord.

 

Use His Word to help in this.  It is a needed counterbalance to consuming news.  If you read through the Bible in a year, a practice I highly recommend, you’re coming to the end of Revelation.  There’s a LOT of bad news in there – far worse than 2020!  But Christ’s power and His return resolve it all into a coming world with no tears, pain or death.  Plan your Scripture reading for 2021, to give God’s news more weight in your heart and mind than the world’s.

 

A fearful populace is an easily controlled populace.  I think 2020 shows this to be true.  So don’t let the news drive all your emotions and thoughts.  Reject fear, shame and guilt, casting them all on Christ for your atonement and vindication.  Then stand free before the Lord, even in a world of bad news, knowing Christ has triumphed and will redeem this world.  We will live forever where truth, goodness and beauty are unhindered by any evil.  The kingdoms of this world will have become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ.  And He shall reign forever and ever.  Amen!

First Day of Christmas

Here’s a brief blog series on each of the 12 days of Christmas, with the Christian meanings I listed previously.  I can’t discern any connection between the traditional gifts and the Christian meaning, so I’m ignoring that.

 

On the first day of Christmas, my True Love [God] gave to me:

A partridge in a pear tree

Jesus Christ our Savior, baby

 

Jesus of course is God’s first gift to the world.  God spoke the eternal Word, and by Him created the worlds in Genesis 1:2-3.  “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made” (Psalm 33:6).  They were made by Him and FOR Him (Colossians 1:16). 

 

God spoke again, and the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary.  The Word entered her womb and took on the flesh of a human embryo: Jesus of Nazareth.  God became a man to save men.

 

“God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” – John 3:16.

 

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” – 2 Corinthians 9:15

Advent and Eschatology. Pray and Work.

The Advent story doesn’t seem to sit particularly well with post-millennial thought.

 

What do I mean?

 

Advent is about Israel languishing in her sin, darkness and exile.  Pretty much helpless until Jesus came and fixed things.  The faithful could do little more than wait and hope.  God has to bring about His own prophecy, right?  Would the faithfulness of Israel have moved up God’s timeline for sending Messiah?

 

In our eschatology debates, this is usually either a pre-mil or an a-millennial perspective.  The post-mil view says that Jesus has empowered the church to advance the gospel on earth, without Him needing to come back and make it happen.

 

Can Advent and Post-millennialism live together with consistency??

 

Yes they can.  Here’s how.

 

Most Post-Mil folks are also Calvinists, and emphasizers of the redemptive history told in the Bible.  The key is to know where you are in God’s story.

 

1 – Jehoshaphat or Ehud?

When an army came against Jehoshaphat, he gathered Israel, and prayed to God: “we don’t know what to do – we are waiting on you.”  When Eglon oppressed Israel, Ehud marched right into his throne room (then into his bathroom!) and stabbed him in the belly.  There ARE times when we have done all we can do, and have to leave events to the Lord’s hands.  And there are times when we have to go take action by faith to fulfill the dominion mandate.  Israel back from exile, awaiting the Messiah, was partly faithful (Simeon, Anna, Zachariah, Elizabeth) and partly compromised (Sanhedrin).

 

The key here is to have the wisdom to know where the boundaries of responsibility lie. 

Our nation is becoming decidedly more secular and godless in its culture and life.  To what extent can I do something about that?  Post-mil folks often lay heavy burdens on believers here, that you can always do more, and if the culture isn’t becoming more godly then you individually, or the Church corporately, are failing.  Not so.  But pre- and a-millennial folks also lay a heavy burden too, saying, you can’t do anything but wallow in your pessimism and wait for God to come and fix it.  Sometimes it’s time to pray and wait.  Sometimes it’s time to work.  Don’t let an eschatological view say your life should always be one or the other.

 

Sometimes you’re at a point in the story where you’re going to lose the battle you’ve been faithfully fighting unless help arrives.  Your spouse will die of cancer; your neighbor will die in unbelief.  Other times, you’re going to lose the battle because you’ve been despairing and negligent, unless you buck up and take action.  Lead your family in worship; go to the town hall meeting and speak up.

 

 

2 – Postmillennialism does NOT believe in a constant increase of faithfulness, with no setbacks anywhere.  The period from the exile up to Christ’s advent was one of those setbacks, when God chastised and refined His people.  Today, Christian faith is waning in the big picture in the Northern Hemisphere of God’s earth.  But it is waxing profoundly in parts of the south.  To note the setbacks is not a betrayal of faith in God’s Pentecostal power given to the church to bring the gospel to the nations.

 

 

3 – I remain divided between the post- and a-millennial views.  I grew up a-mil, believing that the spiritual battle goes on without a clear victor until the end, when Christ comes and mops up.  I’ve recently become more post-mil, believing that the Lord will see the nations of the earth become His own.  Abraham is the heir of the world (Romans 4:13).  But will that happen AT Christ’s coming, or before?  Whatever the answer, let us work and pray, pray and work for the advance of the gospel wherever we can, however we can, as much as we can.

Nine Theses on COVID

 1. God is sovereign over COVID

This is not in the news at all. The secular worldview of the CDC, WHO, Dr Fauci, the medical community, and the media, affects the way they tell us about COVID. People want to think THEY are sovereign over COVID. “We can beat this,” is the common expression of this credo. If you just wear a mask you won’t get it, is the assumption. Hmmm. Keep God in this picture. God is sovereign over COVID, not mankind. RC Sproul liked to say that not a single atom moves in the universe without God’s say-so. Much less a COVID strain in the human population.

2. Do what you can to avoid spreading germs to others

We always qualify the doctrine of sovereignty: we are not talking about fatalism. It isn’t that there is NOTHING you can do. A heightened awareness of germ spread, to be kind to others, is a good thing.

3. Be gracious with each other

The extent to which masks are useful, or to which we change our lives for mitigation, is the big dispute. On a scale of 1 to 10, one being “live as normal, but stand a little further apart and shake hands less”, 10 being “don’t ever gather with more than 8-10 people and always wear an N95 mask,” I’m personally around a 2. Since none of us really knows the extent to which we have control over COVID, we need to exercise grace with each other. Maybe you are a 6 on the scale, and the medical reality is a 7. I shouldn’t condemn you for not being closer to my 2 view, when I don’t know for certain. Same for your opinion!

4. Filter COVID news carefully

I DO know the media presses you to be a 10 on the scale, and I’m sure that is not helpful.

I would cautiously argue that the closer to 10 you are on the scale, the more you are taking on the secular worldview that you can manage and prevent exposure to the virus. It’s also true that the closer to a 1 you are on the scale, the more fatalistic you are tempted to be. I know I’m tempted to ignore COVID, to live as usual, and let God sort it out. I need to pay attention to earthly means God has given (applied medical knowledge) to love others.

5. More of our acquaintances are getting COVID

As this happens, we may be more tempted to fear, and to adopt that 10 on the scale perspective. But Pastor [x] being in the hospital does not justify all the draconian lockdowns, or every fearful prediction ever made about the disease. We’ve already been through this with President Trump contracting and recovering fine from COVID. His response: don’t live in fear of it. 47.2% of the country, his 74 million voters, seem to agree. The media’s response: what is he TALKING about, of COURSE we should be afraid of COVID!! 51.1%, 80 million voters for Biden (Mr. Long Dark Winter), agreed with THAT.

6. COVID is seriously harmful and lethal to a small minority

I’m not saying there is NOTHING to fear from COVID, nor denying the severity of some cases, nor the extensive after-effects for many who survive it. But the scale of deaths and scars from it is much lower than we assume. This is the media-reporting effect: every rare plane crash is reported, so people think planes crash more than they do. Same with severe COVID cases. Should we alter our lives drastically for a tiny minority?

7. Contracting COVID is not the end of the world for the vast majority

Society’s main priority right now is to not contract COVID. Either out of fear of dying, or from a more pragmatic worry of “I don’t want to be out of work and my kids out of school for 2 weeks.” Is it wise to have this be our highest priority? Absolutely not. Worshiping God together is higher. Gathering with family for the holidays should be higher. General social interaction, even if modified, should be higher. Pray for wisdom in assessing risk. Avoiding exposure to COVID should be a higher priority today than exposing ourselves to a cold or the flu a year ago, but it shouldn’t be the absolute end goal of our lives, either.

8. Expect to get COVID – you, or a loved one, or someone at church

This will change your perspective. EXPECT it. What if all your efforts can’t stop God’s will that you contract COVID? As your pastor, I expect one of us to get COVID in the next 1-3 months. WHEN we do, do not freak out. It is not necessarily a judgment on you for your selfish, non-10-on-the-scale behavior. “Who sinned, this man or his family, that he contracted COVID?” (See John 9:2) Our media is very censorious, moralistic and judgmental over this. They assume if you got COVID, someone defied some restriction orders. “If only you would LISTEN to us!...” No, let God be your judge, not their standard. As our culture becomes more secular and pagan, they will become more irrational and superstitious in this way. Resist thinking like them. Your friend didn’t necessarily get COVID because they weren’t vigilant enough to wear a mask. At the same time, there is such a thing as being reckless.

9. Last pastoral exhortations

a. Trust your future to God, not your own plans. 2020 went off the rails, we like to say. From a Biblical worldview: Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” God will do many things in your life that you don’t expect. Take 2020 as exhibit A.

b. Pay attention to unseen ways to love your neighbor. Sometimes doing something inconvenient and unnecessary, like wearing a mask, IS a way to love your neighbor. This is a higher commandment than exercising your freedom – our Lord Jesus said so Himself. There are times we choose between exerting our constitutional rights, and willingly forfeiting them to love our neighbor.

c. Be patient with everyone, especially civil, church, and school authorities, and businesses you patronize. They have a tough job right now. Encourage them instead of criticizing.

Helpful Podcasts

 Remember the June riots over George Floyd?

Anthony Bradley had some really helpful thoughts about it on Acton's podcast.

Al Mohler's Thinking in Public is consistently good and thoughtful.

Here's one on the Civil War that I found compelling.

What's Your Story?

Advent, part 1

 

This past Sunday, the church began the season of Advent. 

Never have I felt so acutely the benefit of the liturgical calendar more than in 2020!

 

The old hymn cries, “Tell me the old, old story.” 

But I’ve been caught up in stories of elections and diseases.

 

The church in her wisdom through the ages, tells the story of Jesus and His love.  The Jesse Tree is probably the best-known rendition of telling the story of the Bible, leading up to Jesus’ Incarnation, His arrival, His advent.  We start in these early days of December with Creation, and the Fall into sin and misery.

 

But there are times we get caught up in other stories.  We are especially prone to this now.

Stories focused on this world, with the Lord Christ in the background at best, and more likely not in the story at all.  Some are compatible with the story of the Bible, and some are not.  But none are The Story.  Here are three of the many out there:

 

“The oppressed will rise up and demand justice and equality, overthrowing the systemically racist and unjust establishment.” – Marx, BLM, 1619 Project

 

“The free market will provide the greatest good for the most.” – Milton Friedman, Bill Buckley

 

“If we all work together and do the “right things,” we can stop COVID, or injustice, we can fix any problem facing us.” – Disney, state governors

 

 

The TRUEST story is this: when God made a good world, one of His servants wanted to take His place, so he set out to wreck that world.  He got the first people to disobey the Lord, even though it would ruin them, just out of spite.  God had already decided to let this happen, and to save the world by sending His Son later to pay for his peoples’ disobedience.  He let the serpent tempt and wreak havoc in His world, to show everyone the difference between the glory of loyalty to Him, and the chaos of rebelling against Him.  He plans to showcase His church’s faithfulness in the end, but most of all, His Son’s sacrifice for His church.

 

 

So when CNN or MSNBC draws me into the story of COVID fear,

Or when Facebook or Mewe or Newsmax draws me into the story of election fraud,

 

The Word of God and the church calendar draws me back to the deepest story we are in.  The Christmas story of the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

My REAL problem is sin and God’s wrath against me for it. 

Not exposure to COVID or being victimized by an oppressive society.

My fundamental identity is not a black person prejudiced against by the police, or a freedom-loving, non-masker.  It is that I am a sinner, saved by grace.

 

My REAL solution is Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

Not the moralism of everyone “doing the right thing.”

Either wearing a mask, or voting for Trump, or sharing the right social media articles.

 

Our hope is not in earthly solutions to the problems we think we have (or to real but temporary problems).

Our hope is in Jesus Christ, God’s answer to the problem we truly have.

 

 

(I’m making a simple point here, which needs some follow up nuance later.  Stay tuned!)